Game Boy Micro repair

[sylvie]

lol

Ended up putting a bottle of half-drunk Prosecco into my purse. Wasn't actually closed. Entire contents spilled into my purse and sat there like that for a while; Game Boy Micro got soaked

I put the thing in rice right away

After a few days I tried to turn it on-- nope.

Plugged it in. Start/Select button lights turn blue when plugged in, but system still doesn't turn on

No clue what's wrong with it, was wondering if anyone would be interested in looking at it..?

 

[daskrabs]

Sounds like a great opportunity to upgrade to an IPS GBA.

 

[SignOfGoob]

I may have a solution to this if you are very brave. I’ve done it, it works.

Remove the battery and faceplate. Find some heavy clothing with pockets that can be zipped. Cargo pants or whatever. Put it all in the wash for as long as you want, detergent yes, softener no.

When it comes out, put it in the window or a dehydrator if you have one.

This works wonders to clean the fuzz out of the L/R buttons.

 

[SignOfGoob]

Sounds like a great opportunity to upgrade to an IPS GBA.

A lateral movement at best.

 

[sylvie]

I may have a solution to this if you are very brave. I’ve done it, it works.

Remove the battery and faceplate. Find some heavy clothing with pockets that can be zipped. Cargo pants or whatever. Put it all in the wash for as long as you want, detergent yes, softener no.

When it comes out, put it in the window or a dehydrator if you have one.

This works wonders to clean the fuzz out of the L/R buttons.

INTERESTING

Sounds like a great opportunity to upgrade to an IPS GBA.

but I like my GBM

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

Disassemble it and give it a clean with isopropanol & q-tips. I wouldn't put it in the wash but proper cleaning (with isopropanol) really works wonders.

 

[SignOfGoob]

I don’t know...sounds really labor intensive.

 

[Ajax]

Don't put your GBM in the wash... What the fuck is this? That's the worst advice I've ever read here, and this is n-g... Imagine how banged up it's going to get. As you know, the case is metal - It's going to come out looking like it went through a severe hail storm.

Take it apart and clean it out. It's possible that the Prosecco borked the screen. I wonder if you can get just a new screen.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

I don’t know...sounds really labor intensive.

Probably not a big deal but you need some time and patience, at least you don't add more damage to the Micro.

 

[sylvie]

Don't put your GBM in the wash... What the fuck is this? That's the worst advice I've ever read here, and this is n-g... Imagine how banged up it's going to get. As you know, the case is metal - It's going to come out looking like it went through a severe hail storm.

Take it apart and clean it out. It's possible that the Prosecco borked the screen. I wonder if you can get just a new screen.

Spergboy just doesn't like me, I'm ignoring his tantrum

 

[sylvie]

I'm offering to send this shit OUT to someone. I honestly do not feel like dealing with it

@Beelzebub ?

 

[Digmac]

I'm offering to send this shit OUT to someone. I honestly do not feel like dealing with it

@Beelzebub ?

Charley can probably help you out.

 

[sylvie]

Oh yes How could I forget Charley....

@max 330 mega I will send this fuckin baby to you if you can help me out

 

[Claudia Schiffer]

No clue what's wrong with it,

half a bottle of prosecco

 

[sylvie]

half a bottle of prosecco

hmmm..... you may be right

 

[max 330 mega]

Yeah sure, ill take a look at it. Text me. If i cant fix the little guy, i can definitely build you an ips modded gba with video out. Lol

 

[SignOfGoob]

Don't put your GBM in the wash... What the fuck is this? That's the worst advice I've ever read here, and this is n-g... Imagine how banged up it's going to get. As you know, the case is metal - It's going to come out looking like it went through a severe hail storm.

Take it apart and clean it out. It's possible that the Prosecco borked the screen. I wonder if you can get just a new screen.

If the thing is filled with cheese then I assume repair is a choice between paying someone serious money or a Hail Mary Mallon sort of effort. I don’t necessarily think anyone is going to take my advice but I can assure you, as I said in my post, I’ve already done it! So it isn’t as nuts as you think. I have a FC Mini that even now still looks pretty great and plays perfectly. It took days to dry out, but it basically fixed a broken GBM that I had in my pocket. Accident? Yes, but it answered the unasked question perfectly. In my case the battery was in, fully charged, and faceplate attached but still there was no damage. I should have mentioned you should have like a whole load of jeans in there with it to cushion the energy.

Many electronics are more or less waterproof as long as they are powered down. Cleaning one’s computer keyboard in a dishwasher is relatively common.

 

[max 330 mega]

If the thing is filled with cheese then I assume repair is a choice between paying someone serious money or a Hail Mary Mallon sort of effort. I don’t necessarily think anyone is going to take my advice but I can assure you, as I said in my post, I’ve already done it! So it isn’t as nuts as you think. I have a FC Mini that even now still looks pretty great and plays perfectly. It took days to dry out, but it basically fixed a broken GBM that I had in my pocket. Accident? Yes, but it answered the unasked question perfectly. In my case the battery was in, fully charged, and faceplate attached but still there was no damage. I should have mentioned you should have like a whole load of jeans in there with it to cushion the energy.

Many electronics are more or less waterproof as long as they are powered down. Cleaning one’s computer keyboard in a dishwasher is relatively common.

Meh. Nevermind.

 

[SignOfGoob]

Yeah, exactly. Never mind. Experience beats theory.

When taking this picture I did notice some extremely fine cracks in the faceplate. That may have been from the shock of the washing machine, but they are so hard to see in normal light/magnification that I haven’t noticed them in the subsequent 15 years. There are no signs of hail or any other damage. Battery is the same, everything works perfectly. This washed the fuzz out of the R button’s micro switch on a GBM I paid $15 for and made it new again. I’m converted. I would repair everything by washing machine if I could but now I have one of those HE ones and it sucks at everything including this, one would assume.

 

[max 330 mega]

Ok dildo, well you can keep tumble washing your electronics. Ill just open them and clean them properly. I seriously cannot even believe that you are championing this as the go to method. Its one thing to accidentally wash a handheld and then miraculously it works, maybe even with less sticky buttons than before, but to act like its some hidden life hack. What the actual fuck??

 

[sylvie]

Seems like it doesnt matter what I do on this forum. It turns into gold. I'm the Midas woman

 

[Ajax]

Maybe we could actually try just pumping this fuckin thing full of cheez wiz, since that was mentioned, and we are going off the deep end with unorthodox “repair” methods.

 

[Beelzebub]

I'm offering to send this shit OUT to someone. I honestly do not feel like dealing with it

@Beelzebub ?

Damn, that's never fun. Sorry I didn't see your ping until now, been working mornings for the summer.

That's too bad the rice didn't help much, hopefully it's not permanent damage and only needs to be disassembled and cleaned. Looks like Max 330 Mega has it handled, but if he doesn't want to feel free to send it my way and i can see what I can do.


Also, don't machine wash your electronics kiddos! lol Only non-standard game console fix I swear by is boiling your NES 72 pin connector(and scrubbing it), if it starts doing that blinking shit a lot.

 

[Hawwa]

Yeah, exactly. Never mind. Experience beats theory.

So many things wrong about this statement, I can't even begin to number them.

Dissasemble, proper and careful cleaning with IPA, special care if something is rotten/damaged, reassemble and good luck.

 

[neo_mao]

Going to toss my kids in the washing machine instead traditional bath time.

They’ll have fun and it will save us a lot of time and energy. Win win!